The Royal Prank
by GlasTriskellion
Summary: One quiet morning in Finaqua, DG and her bodyguard Cain have gone missing, only to be found in a rather compromising position. Based on a prompt from the Tin Man Fanfiction Yahoo Group


Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Tin Man. Characters and situations belong either to L. Frank Baum or the Sci Fi Channel.

The following story is based on a prompt from the Tin Man Fanfiction Yahoo Group.

DG was late to breakfast, but couldn't be found in her room. Queen Lavender was mildly concerned, especially when her daughter's bodyguard, Wyatt Cain, was late as well. Fortunately, it didn't take long for the guards scouting the grounds to find them.

"Your Majesty," said a guard entering the throne room at Finaqua. "Your daughter and her guard have been found."

"Where were they?" asked the worried queen from her throne.

"In the gazebo, out by the lake," the guard said, barely holding back laughter.

The Queen sighed. "Do I want to know what they were doing out there?" she asked dryly. She was well aware of the relationship developing between her daughter and her Tin Man. If it continued, she would be obliged to intervene and push them towards marriage, but for now it was a pleasant diversion. But if it was migrating out into the gazebo at public hours, maybe she should make that intervention.

"I'm sure they will be willing to explain themselves," the guard replied, this time giving in to the urge to snicker. "The rest of my patrol will escort them here directly."

"Why didn't they come with you?" Ahamo asked, standing behind the Queen's shoulder. The over-protective father that had long been repressed in the Realm of the Unwanted was coming to the fore of late, much to his daughter's frustration. Only his wife's assurance of the normality of DG's actions and his own fond memories of his own courtship had saved his daughter's bodyguard a father's wrath.

The guard was saved from answering when two more guards entered the throne room without their uniform jackets. Behind them came two figures wearing nothing but the aforementioned uniform jackets. Fortunately, the jackets went down to the knees of the shorter figure and mid-thigh on the taller.

Queen Lavender lost her poise enough for her jaw to drop for a moment when she identified the two following figures as her black haired younger daughter and her blond Tin Man. Ahamo nudged his wife, bringing her poise back to its proper level before her cheeks could go as red as her daughter's.

"What is the meaning of this?" she snapped at her daughter.

One of the guards escorting DG answered. "We found them in the gazebo in a rather ... compromising position."

"And their clothes were nowhere in sight," added the other guard, the grin across his face far too broad for his health.

"Oh, DG," Lavender said sadly, rising from her throne and walking over to her daughter. "I don't mind your relationship with Mr. Cain, but you are a princess. It really isn't appropriate to be flaunting such things out from behind locked doors."

DG flushed again, and her bodyguard went an impressive shade of red, starting at the ears. "I'm well aware of my standing and the strictures of propriety," DG said dryly. The Queen made to speak, but DG cut her off. "And it's interesting that you should mention locked doors, since I distinctly remember falling asleep safely behind them." The younger princess turned her head slightly and glared at her elder sister, who was sitting smugly in a secondary throne near her mother's.

"You mean you didn't go down to the gazebo yourselves?" Ahamo asked, walking up behind his wife.

"Certainly not," DG snapped back. Cain just stood half a step behind her, looking stoic and alternating between bright red and shock white. "You don't think I'd be foolish enough to go down to the gazebo without at least bringing a blanket? Let alone something in the way of clothes?"

"This is part of your horrible prank war?" the Queen snapped, eyes wide as she rounded on her elder daughter.

Azkadellia smirked, an expression that was counter to her position near the throne, back straight with hands primly held in her lap.

"Who started this nonsense?" asked Lavender, her eyes bouncing between her daughters even as her husband placed a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"Az did," DG said.

"That was an accident," Azkadellia said smugly.

"Every single pair of my shoes had green gloop dripping out of them for two days," DG replied acidly.

"I was still getting the hang of using my magic again. It was an accident," Az insisted, then lost her serious expression and laughed. "I was only trying for the pair you were wearing."

"So much for an accident," the Queen said, obviously fighting her own laughter. "No more of this. This is no way for royalty to be behaving."

"Not if they're over the age of fifteen," Ahamo added softly so only his wife could hear him.

"But she started it," DG whined. "And it was her decision to break into my room and leave Wyatt and me ... in the gazebo." Her cheeks went bright red again as she realized they were having a rather personal family argument in front of several guards.

"Fine, one more to balance the scales, but that is all," the Queen offered.

Before she could say another word, DG stepped around her mother and waved her hand at her sister. Azkadellia vanished in an instant. Through the open windows, the now silent family heard a distant shriek and a splash.

"Was it necessary to leave her dress behind?" Ahamo asked with a disappointed shake of his head.

"She would have drowned in all those petticoats," DG said with a shrug. "At least I left her shift."

"I think you need to suggest she cut back on the boning," Cain said, making his first contribution to the conversation. "That dress is still sitting up on its own." Everyone turned and noticed the Tin Man was completely right.

"You are aware your sister favors a very fine linen for her shifts?" the Queen asked DG, eyebrow raised suspiciously.

"I'm sure one of the guards will offer her a coat for propriety's sake," DG replied. "Come on, Wyatt. I'd like to get some clothes so we can return these coats to your men."

"Yes, Princess," the Tin Man said, following his charge from the throne room.

Lavender dismissed the guards and walked back to her seat. "Whatever are we going to do with those girls?" she sighed.

"They're making up for lost time," Ahamo said, grinning like a proud father. "I'm sure they'll get it out of their systems soon."

At that moment, Azkadellia squelched into the room, her dripping shift completely see through and two guards running after her. "Where is she? Where is that little brat?" When she didn't see DG, she went running back into the palace to look further, her water trail causing both guards to skid and go down in a pile in the door way.

The Queen just shook her head at the scene. "It cannot come soon enough."


End file.
